The Dark Kingdom's Return
by narsenic
Summary: Sailor Moon destroyed Queen Beryl, but what happens when the Negaverse decides to strike back? The enemy stronger than ever, will the Sailor Scouts be able to defeat them once and for all?
1. Prelude

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sailor Moon.**

**This is my first fanfic and I have a lot planned for it, but I'm still unsure if I wanna go through with it but if anyone like this little prelude I have written up, then I'll continue.**

**I edited it after I realized I didn't put any indentations in, which people don't seem to do on here but I wanna get in the habit of doing it the proper way so I hope it doesn't look weird to anyone! I guess I'm a bit of a perfectionist haha.**

**I'm drafting chapter one now, and I'm probably gonna go through and tweak it quite a few times be for I put it up so it probably won't be up until the second week of March because I'm going on vacation in a few days and I won't be back till March 7th. Sorry to keep ya waiting!**

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><p>He stared down at the locket in his hand, thinking, <em>remembering<em>.

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><p>It was a summer night in the days of peace, which now seemed so distant. She was standing on the balcony of his apartment. He stood back inside, admiring her; the way the moonlight touched her hair so perfectly and made it glow, and how her long locks swayed so beautifully in the soft, warm, summer breeze.<p>

He stepped outside, sliding the glass door closed behind him.

"Serena," He sighed happily, as if just being near her brought to him a euphoric feeling that no drug could imitate.

She turned her head away from the night sky and smiled at him, her eyes glowing with happiness.

"Darien," She smiled, with similar emotion in her voice.

Without a word, he walked up next to her, leaning against the railing with one arm, and wrapping the other around her. She stayed leaning on the railing, with her locket cradled in her hands.

He briefly glanced at the city view then stared down into her bright blue eyes. The city in the moonlight paled in comparison to what was now before his eyes. He realized this, and couldn't help but to smile wider. Immediately, Serena found herself doing the same in response.

That's when the soft sound of music started.

They both tore their eyes away from each other and looked at the locket. The beautiful gold star had opened and began playing a song that they knew by heart. It gave off a warm golden glow that lit up their faces.

Serena stood there smiling at the precious treasure while Darien suddenly became pensive. He reached out his hand that was resting on the railing to touch their symbol of love. Serena easily noticed his change in emotions and looked up at him.

"What's wrong?"

Keeping his gaze upon the locket, he breathed in deeply before responding.

"Nothing, I was just thinking…Do you remember where you got this from?"

A puzzled look wrinkled her face as she looked back down at it in consideration.

"…You…dropped it during a fight?" She said, staring back up at him questioningly. She was clearly unsure of herself.

"No, I mean, in our lives during the Silver Millennium."

"Ooohhhh," She breathed with understanding.

Looking back down at her locket with a purpose, she took on Darien's thoughtful stare as she tried, and tried, and tried to remember.

"I…I've always had it, since I was little. I don't…I'm not sure where it came from…" She was still trying hard to remember.

He stroked the locket and Serena's back simultaneously as he also attempted to tap into his memories from so long ago.

"I remember you told me it was a gift," he said thoughtfully, "from your father."

She quickly returned her gaze up to his eyes, gasping slightly as things finally started to click in her head.

"Yes!" She smiled. "He gave it me when I was about four years old. It was before…" Her enthusiasm changed to something more grief filled, "before he went off to fight."

Serena could now remember the moment as clear as day. Her father had sat her down on his lap and given her the locket. He opened it and she listened as the sweet music filled her ears and warmed her heart. He had told her how precious she was to him, and that someday he might not be there for her. He said that when she's grown, men will want to win her heart. It will be confusing, and he might not be there to guide her, so the locket would help her. The locket would only play when she met a man who was right for her and when they were truly in love.

He had told her all this while she hummed along and lightly swayed to the music. She did not, could not, understand the importance of that moment. She was just happy. The music stopped and the locket closed and the King kissed his young daughter on the head, knowing it may be his last time doing so.

After the news of his death, she carried her locket with her at all times. It made it feel as though her father were with her as she patiently waited for the day she could hear its sweet sound again.

"That was the last time I saw him," Serena whispered as she came back to the present. Her eyes began to grow watery and she closed her hands around her special gift.

Darien wrapped his arms around her, and she willingly leaned her head against his broad chest. He closed his eyes and she did the same, until she thought of something else. She pulled away slightly from him to hold out the locket again.

"But, I had gifted it to you," She smiled at the thought, "so you could carry around a piece of me with you at all times," and then she lowered her voice to a soothing whisper, "You were the one who made it play again."

She smiled happily up at him before taking his hand and placing the locket in it.

"It's time I give you it back."

Darien wanted to argue with her, make her keep it because it was really hers and meant a lot to her. He wanted to tell her that he didn't need it for her to be with him always, she already was. But…he knew he'd never win _that_ battle.

Instead, he planted a soft but passionate kiss on her lips as the music played, which she easily returned with the same amount of emotion.

He pulled away after a moment and stared at the locket again before tightening his embrace on his love and turning his gaze up at the night sky. Serena leaned into him again, her hands resting on his chest, as she stared off into space with him, with their song still playing softly.

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><p>Now things were different. There was no peace. No beautiful night skies. No Serena to brighten his day. She was somewhere far away from him, and the knowledge of that pulled painfully at his heartstrings.<p>

Darien placed the locket down next to him on the bed and stared at it as he clutched his pillow, wishing it was Serena. He felt a tear escape his eye and it startled him; he hadn't cried since he was a young boy. He knew he was a strong man, and realizing that he was in enough pain to make _him _cry only made his eyes tear up more.

He cried himself to sleep, with their song still playing softly.


	2. Chapter 1

**Here it is! Finally I have finished the first chapter!Sorry it took so long but I was on vacation for a week but I'm back home now and hopefully can start working on this at a quicker pace. ****Enjoy and let me know what you think! And also alert me to any errors you might find since it's late and my editing process might have been tainted due to my tiredness. And also you may notice I made the Scouts a couple years older than they are in the original story. 14 is just way too young in my opinion. So without further ado...**

**Chapter 1**

Over a thousand years ago, the great civilization of the Moon Kingdom was brought to a tragic end by the evil forces of the Negaverse. With the power of the Silver Crystal, Queen Serenity was able to trap the Negaverse and defeat them, but not before her kingdom was destroyed. With what remained of her power, Queen Serenity sent her daughter, the Moon Princess, to safety in the future. However, it would not remain safe for long. The Negaverse broke out of its captivity and sought to once again take over the universe. But there was hope. The Sailor Scouts were among those sent to the future from the Moon Kingdom, and they were awakened and fought the evils of the Negaverse. In an epic battle, Sailor Moon, the Moon Princess, fought against Queen Beryl, the leader of the Negaverse. Beryl was destroyed forever and it seemed peace was finally in hand.

However, for the next half a year, some threats still existed.

In the chaos of the fall of Beryl, some monsters of the Negaverse broke free and attacked senselessly. The Scouts took down threat after threat with ease, as the anarchy state of the Negaverse made the monsters confused and without direction.

Eventually, the threats ceased and a short time of peace was enjoyed by the Scouts. They had to face a short threat from two aliens named Ann and Allen, but within two months, they were healed by the power of the Silver Crystal and they left Earth peacefully.

For the last six months, the Scouts had finally known lasting peace. Their summer break between their Senior year and college was coming up and life was wonderful. But unseen to them was a growing threat from that which they believed was gone for good.

And so, the story begins again.

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><p>Serena took in a deep breath, savoring it before slowly letting it out. She smiled into her pillow that she was hugging tightly. Her eyes were lightly shut and she dreamed happily of peaceful days in the park, eating ice cream that somehow did not melt down her hand. It was perfect. There was a light sound of music in the background that she vaguely recognized as she sat alone in her dreamland, smiling and content with life.<p>

The music seemed to be growing louder and taking over the course of her dreams in some nonsensical way she rather enjoyed. She started frolicking through the park to the beat.

Her eyelids start to feel heavy, and the music only grew louder and louder as reality started to take the place of her light and airy dream world. Slowly, she lifted her eyelids, just enough so she could see somewhat clearly. Some sort of instinct took hold of her then and she looked at her alarm clock. That's when she got kicked into overdrive. The music she had been hearing was her alarm going off. She was supposed to have gotten up half an hour ago.

A quick, panicky scream escaped her lips as her body instinctively jumped from a sudden pulse of adrenaline. Of course, with grace such as hers, she fell out of bed, tangling the bed sheets around her. She hit the ground face first, landing with a loud thud.

Her cat, and guardian, Luna, had been sleeping oh so peacefully at the end of her bed. Luna's eyes had shot open at the sound of Serena's scream, and had been catapulted off the bed. She let out a loud and pained meow as she flew through the air.

"Serena!" Luna hissed once she landed. Serena didn't seem to care, or just not notice at all, because she went about her thrashing trying to break free of her sheets.

Serena got free and jumped up immediately, running to the bathroom across the hall with urgency. Luna could only sit and wonder what had gotten into her. It wasn't like Serena to get up early on a Saturday. She took a minute to ponder this, and decided the foolish girl probably forgot it wasn't a school day. With a sigh, Luna decided to go break the news to her, though she would rather watch her figure it out herself for the laugh. So the cat walked into the bathroom to the sight of Serena brushing her teeth fiercely.

"You know, you won't have any teeth left if you keep brushing them like that," Luna said as she jumped up on the vanity.

Serena spit into the sink, uncaring of the hint of blood. She had cut her gums, the clumsy girl.

"Be quiet Luna!" She said fiercely, her blue eyes seeming to be on fire as she glared at Luna. The regal cat paid no mind to her temper.

"You do know what day it is, don't you Serena?" She had started to ravish her hair now.

"Of course I know what day it is!" She pointed her hair brush at Luna in a threatening matter.

"…Saturday?" Luna still questioned the girl's mindset, knowing it would only aggravate her further.

"Yes!" Serena screeched running back into her bedroom in the process.

Luna searched her mind for some kind of reason Serena would_ ever _want to get up early on a Saturday. Had Serena told her she had plans and Luna had just forgotten them? Of course, Luna wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't mentioned it at all, not because she was secretive, but forgetful and rather careless at times.

Certain that she hadn't been made aware of any plans, Luna followed after the girl back into her bedroom. The sight that greeted her made her cat eyes grow big and black. Serena had only been in there for less than a minute, and she had already destroyed the place. Clothes were scattered everywhere, and only continued to scatter as Serena kneeled before her dresser, tossing around her clothing in a futile effort to find something perfect to wear. Luna knew very well, the girl would never be satisfied. Yet Serena's frantic attempts continued.

"Serena…" Luna began, cautiously. Serena only ignored her and tried on a shirt, looked in the mirror, and, with a look of disgust, quickly discarded it among all her other clothes.

Luna approached slowly, dodging the flying clothes. She doubled her efforts and raised her voice slightly, not in an aggravated way, but an attention grabbing way.

"Serena…" Apparently, it wasn't attention grabbing enough, for she only continued to riffle through her clothes, yet Luna remained patient. That is, until Serena chucked a pink shirt over her shoulder which headed straight for Luna. The cat once again meowed loudly before she was encased in pink and had to struggle to get out. And that was the end of Luna's patience.

"SERENA!" _That _caught her attention, finally.

"What do you want Luna?" Serena seemed to have just settled on a blouse when Luna broke her focus.

"What on earth are you up to?" Luna demanded.

"I'm trying to find something to wear! And you're going to make me late!" Serena started to sound panicky as she slipped on her blouse and a pair of jeans.

"Late for what?" Luna wondered just how this girl could seem so senseless sometimes and frankly stupid, though she would never say that out loud.

"MY DATE!" Serena yelled before sprinting down the stairs. She didn't understand how Luna could be so clueless sometimes. Honestly, what else would get her out of bed at 9 in the morning on a Saturday but a boy? Of course, Darien was certainly not a boy. He was one hundred and a million percent a man. _Obviously_ he is the only reason she would ever miss out on sleeping in.

Luna sighed in annoyance. Did she think she was a mind reader? Even if she had the power, Luna didn't believe anyone could ever read that girl's mind.

Serena ran past the kitchen to the front door, but quickly skidded to a stop at the smell of food. Without hesitation, she whirled around and sped into the kitchen, grabbed a warm cinnamon bun off the table, and then made her way out of the room just as quickly as she had entered.

"Bye Mom, Dad, Sammie!" Serena yelled on her way out before slamming the front door shut. She had left behind one very, _very_ stunned family. The three of them still sat at the kitchen table, fixated on the empty doorway they swore they saw Serena in.

Serena's brother Sammie was the first to speak. His eyes were wide and his face was drained of color.

"Mom?" He said shakily, his eyes unmoving, as well as his hands that had been moving a piece of toast towards his mouth before Serena had burst into the room.

"…Yes dear?" Her eyes were wide and unmoving as well.

"Did…did Serena just run in here?"

"…I'm not sure, Sammie," She spoke honestly.

"Should we…be worried?" Serena's father added.

"I don't think so dear. As long as she comes home tonight."

"_I'm_ worried that I might be hallucinating," Sammie said.

His parents just nodded in response, their stare at the emptiness still unbroken.

Serena ran down her street as fast as her still half-asleep legs would carry her. She had only one thing on her mind. Easily, that one thing was Darien. He was her boyfriend of almost a year. Scratch that, of over a THOUSAND years. After all, they had already been in love during the Silver Millennium and it never faded after they were reborn into the future.

Darien had been working a lot to pay off his college loans. Serena had thought she would get to spend more time with him since it was almost summer and the semester was over for him but boy, had she been wrong. The lack of school only allowed him to pick up more hours at both his jobs, but they still took the opportunity to be together whenever they could. It was hard for them to be away from each other. So if that meant getting up early to spend the morning with him before he had to work in the afternoon, then she would gladly sacrifice her beloved hours of sleep for him.

After running a couple blocks, Serena had taken a left and was about to turn right around the corner of a building. But of course, as soon as she rounded the corner, she ran into something. Because of the momentum she had going, she started to bounce backwards off the object and would have fallen backwards had a pair of arms not wrapped around her and broke her fall.

"Whoa!" A voice said. Of course it was some_one_ not some_thing_ she had crashed into. Great, that meant extra embarrassment for her.

"I'm so sorry!" Serena screeched in horror. Her eyes then began to quickly move upward and she caught a pair of dark blue eyes.

"Oh, Darien!" Serena cried lovingly. Seeing it was he who she had collided with quickly took away her shame and turned it into joy. She swiftly wrapped her arms around his waist and he pulled her in tighter, his arms still being around her from catching her.

"Haha, good morning Serena," Darien spoke happily as he tightened his hold on her and rested his head atop hers.

They stayed in their embrace for a long minute before pulling apart slightly and staring into each other's love filled eyes, their arms still around one another.

"I thought I was meeting you at the park?" Serena questioned.

"You were, but you were taking too long so I started to walk to your house," he laughed playfully.

"Hey! You're lucky I got up this early for you mister! It's a Saturday! I could be sleeping in!"

"You'll get the chance to do that plenty soon enough. You only have a couple weeks left of school, you meatball head," he teased, knowing her response.

"I'M NOT A MEATBALL HEAD!"

"Well sometime it seems that's what's in that skull of yours in place of brains," he smiled with a sense of pride, feeling he was winning at a game. _She's not gonna like that one, _he laughed internally.

"I do too have brains! And they are beautiful!" She stuck up her nose at him smugly.

"Yes, I know Serena. Every part of you is beautiful," he sighed with a smile, feeling defeated. He really did believe she was beautiful in every way. He couldn't beat the truth, cliché as it sounded. She really brought out the cliché side of him he never knew he had.

"Thank you," She said proudly, her head held high in the air.

Darien smiled down at her and then eased his hold on her so they could start walking. They parted each other's embrace and instantly linked their hands together and started down the sidewalk towards the park.

"So what did you have in mind for today?" Serena smiled up at him. Forget the sidewalk, Darien was a much more enjoyable view. If she tripped and fell on her face, oh well. It would be worth it.

"I thought we'd go for a walk through the park, then get some food at the café, considering there's no way you aren't hungry. Then we could take a boat out on the lake before I walk you back to your house. Sound alright?" He smiled down at her but only made it a glance. _Someone_ had to watch where they were walking.

Serena only nodded excitedly in response. As long as she was with him, then everything sounded alright to her. He could suggest going to see a monster truck rally and it would sound alright to her, and that was certainly something she wouldn't do given the choice. Not exactly her thing. Luckily, it wasn't his thing either.

Darien laughed lovingly at her excitement. She was so full of life and it warmed his heart. He had never known someone like her and she was his. He also knew without a doubt that he was hers. Always has been, always will be.

Life couldn't have been better for them at that time.

The two walked side by side into the park, blissfully enjoying each other's company.

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><p>On the other side of the city, on its very edge, a very different feeling was taking hold of one of the Scouts. Rei was asleep in her bed, tossing and turning. She was covered with sweat and her hands were clenched into tight fists.<p>

She was having one hell of a nightmare. Something she hadn't had for a very long time.

The dream had started out peaceful, with her and the rest of the Scouts back on the Moon Kingdom. They were laughing and dancing when suddenly the air felt heavy and things grew dark. A deep, evil laugh boomed in the air. She expected to hear Beryl laughing, but was shocked to find it was a man's voice.

The walls began to crumble down around them, hitting the ground loudly and missing them by only inches. From all directions, she could hear blood-chilling screams echoing in the dark.

She suddenly realized she was running through a dark corridor that was filled with smoke. She was finding it harder to breathe but she saw light in the distance and she knew she had to run to it. But when she reached that light and was out in the open, she was only consumed by more fear.

Her eyes grew wide as she witnessed the world around her burning.

She frantically looked around, realizing she was alone, and started calling out for her friends. No one answered.

For some reason, she felt the need to call out for Serena again, and when she did, she saw something appear in the distance. It was Serena! But her eyes were closed and she was lying down, hovering above the flames. Rei couldn't be sure if she was dead or alive. She only continued to stare in horror as the flames grew higher.

Once again, that evil laugh boomed around her. She screamed Serena's name out again only to be greeted by more of that chilling, haunting laugh. She was about to run towards Serena's floating form when something began to slowly appear in front of her.

Rei could no longer see Serena. All she could see was a huge face that was twisted with evil. The face filled the air and its eyes stared down at her, petrifying her with fear. She felt a feeling of darkness and fear start to encircle her, making her feel suffocated. The eyes of the face widened and her feeling of horror heightened as she began to scream, only to be muffled by the sound of the deep laugh again, louder than ever. This time, she could see that it was coming from the unknown face.

The flames began to close in on her and she could feel the smoke fill her lungs. Her skin burned but all she could do was stand there in the shadow of pure evil.

Rei screamed again, but in reality and finally started to drift into consciousness.

The sound of the laugh still echoed in her head.

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><p><strong>Kind of short, but these chapters are sure to get a lot longer once it gets deeper into the story. <strong>

**Hopefully this was a satisfying amount!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter two! This one is a little shorter, but I think they'll end up getting longer as the story picks up. I'm pretty happy with this one and I keep getting more and more great ideas as I continue to write. I really think this story is gonna turn out great! So here's chapter two! Enjoy:] Oh and a bit of language gets used, but I think it can still be rated T since it's only used once. I'm expecting the rating to go up once the it's further into the story and things get a little more romantic, and dark. **

**Oh, and you may have noticed I had mentioned in chapter 1 that the girls were between their Junior and Senior year, well I changed that and now their finishing their Senior year. Just in case anyone gets confused!**

**Chapter 2**

Serena came home and plopped down on the couch, a smile plastered on her face. She had just come home from her date with Darien, and also just finished a fierce make out session. Yup, she was happy alright, for lack of a better word. Her eyes were closed lightly as she savored the last of the feeling of his kiss and the taste as well. Lucky for her, the smell of his cologne was sure to linger on her clothes for the rest of the day.

"Serena?" The sound of her mother's voice snapped Serena out of her trance and back into the real world where her mother was standing in the doorway.

"Yes mom?" She answered sweetly.

"I didn't expect you to be back so soon, honey. By the way, Ami called. She wants you to head over to the Temple to meet up with the girls. I told her I didn't know when you'd be back and to not count on you coming but since it's only 1 o'clock, you could probably head over there."

Serena raised an eyebrow at her mother's message. Had they had something planned that day and she'd forgotten? Or was something wrong? No, there was no way something could be wrong. Everything had been so perfect lately! No one was having problems, that she knew of at least, but her friends weren't ones to keep secrets.

"Really? Well, I guess I'll call first. Thanks mom," she said before getting up and walking past her mother and into the hallway. She was dreadfully curious as to what was going on and she pondered all the possibilities as she picked the phone up off the receiver. Unfortunately for the phone, her anxiety caused her to practically break the buttons as she near beat Rei's number into it.

It barely had time to ring once before Rei answered.

"Hello?" Rei said, sounding panicky.

"Rei? Hey, it's Serena, what's up?" She said with a tone of concern. She wasn't used to Rei's voice sounding so shaky. That girl was always so confident and strong.

"Serena!" Rei's tone changed to that of annoyance, "Where have you been? We called you two hours ago! We need you here NOW!"

"Hey! Don't yell at me, alright? I had plans. What's going on? Why is this so urgent?"

"I'll explain when you get here! So get over here NOW!"

"Okay! I'm coming! Calm down!" Serena said before hearing the dial tone. Rei had just hung up on her without saying goodbye. _How rude!_ Serena thought. Rei could be so mean sometimes, but this time it felt different. She seemed to be acting mean because she was stressed over something. But what? Serena wondered as she shut the front door behind her. She started heading the opposite direction that she had went in this morning at a quick walking pace. For a brief moment, she considered running, but she was tired, so the girls were just going to have to deal with her lack of lightning speed abilities.

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><p>After ten minutes, she finally ascended the steps of the temple, expecting to see the girls waiting for her outside. It was such a beautiful day! When Serena didn't see them out there, she was struck with yet more confusion. She scanned the vicinity quick before walking towards the side of the Temple where Rei lived. Once again, confusion hit her as another out of the ordinary sight greeted her. The girls were sitting around watching the TV. They hadn't even noticed her come in! Though TV watching isn't exactly unusual for people, it was for the norm of <em>those<em> girls. If Serena had been watching TV while they were there, she'd get bitched at for sure. Add on the fact that the weather was beyond perfect, then what Serena saw before her just didn't add up.

"Guys?" Serena said, trying to get their attention. They stayed unmoving, their eyes glued to the TV. Instinctively, Serena glanced over to the TV.

_The news?_ She screamed internally. Of all things to watch! It wasn't even local. So why were they so interested?

"Guys…" She said a little louder, more on the annoyed side this time. Only one person responded to her. It was Mina, and she had only turned around quickly and put a finger to her lips, signaling for her to be quiet, and turned right back to the TV.

The news was showing an aerial view of a rainforest. _Boring_, Serena thought, until the view moved. Serena let out a small gasp. The shot the camera was showing had once been a lush green forest, but as the shot continued to move to the right, a new sight appeared. The rest of the forest was completely dead. There was no transition zone, just an extremely life-filled filled forest changed into a dry, grey, dead one. It looked surreal to see two very different pictures right next to each other.

"…Scientists are still trying to figure out the cause of the sudden loss of life in this large rainforest. This habitat is home to a variety of unique and endangered species, and a source of various natural resources, which has raised concern from many environmentalist worldwide…"

_Why do I get bad vibes from this?_ Serena wondered, briefly connecting to her heroine side which had faded out drastically after the destruction of Beryl. She shook out the thought instantly, convincing herself that she didn't have to be worried about that anymore, and neither should her friends.

"Seriously guys? Is _this_ why you called me over? To watch the _news_?" Serena asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

Rei immediately snapped her head around to glare at Serena.

"Shut UP! You meatball head, do you always have to be so ignorant and selfish?"

Upon Rei's outburst, Ami picked up the remote, shut off the TV, and turned her attention to her two friends, hoping to stop a big argument from happening.

"Rei, stop it. She's not a mind reader. And Serena, give us a chance to explain," she said soothingly. It almost seemed motherly. Ami really was the peace maker and logical one of the group.

"I was waiting for someone to explain but you all were paying too much attention to the stupid TV!" Serena retorted.

"As if _you_ don't do that yourself all the time, you ditz," Rei snorted.

"Guys stop it! This is serious! Rei, will you stop taking out your frustration on Serena and just explain to her what happened," Lita cut in.

"Alright," Rei huffed.

Serena raised an eyebrow and waited for Rei to begin.

Rei started down at the floor, deep in thought. She inhaled deeply before she began to speak.

"Last night, I had a dream…" She began. The four girls listened intently to Rei as she spoke, though all except Serena had already heard the story.

Serena had a worried expression on her face as Rei described her dream. It was filled with destruction, fire, and fear she never would have thought Rei would feel so intensely. And knowing Rei and her abilities, the dream had to have been a warning. But of what? The Moon Kingdom was destroyed long ago, though it was Beryl and not some strange man who had done so. Serena would not let herself consider the threat of a new enemy. It seemed so silly and overdramatic.

"…It was just a dream, Rei. Nothing's gonna happen," Serena said softly after Rei finished talking. Rei looked up at her in anger upon hearing her words.

"…Just a dream?" Rei cocked an angry eyebrow. "When have my dreams ever been_ just_ dreams? And how about what we just saw on the news? Half a rainforest just suddenly dies for no reason? Or the life being sucked out of it? That's my bet. And what if you die at the hands of this man? Will it be just a dream then?" Rei was fuming, but she held back from yelling at the top of her lungs by clenching her fists so tight that her knuckles lost the color in them and she had fingernail indentations in her palms.

"I won't die Rei! And just because scientists don't know something doesn't mean we should…" Serena began, but was cut off.

"Are going to sit there and tell me that you do not get _some_ sort of bad vibe from this? You're the fucking Moon Princess aren't you? Stop suppressing it Serena and step up!" Rei yelled.

On the sidelines, Ami sighed, feeling torn.

"The truth is, we can't be sure if this is some sort of new enemy stepping forward. Rei, you may be right and we should be ready to act, or Serena…" Ami hesitated, "you may be right and this might not be anything at all. It's too soon to know. I mean, Rei only had this dream last night. I know it seems unlikely to you, Rei, but it really may just be a nightmare, and one about the past. And it may be possible that there's some kind of new disease killing that rainforest, though I do get a bad vibe from all of this. I just think maybe would should take some time, step back, and see what happens, but be prepared just in case," Ami stated.

"I think Ami's right. It's too soon to jump to conclusions. But we should definitely be careful incase Rei is right. We'll have to keep watching to see what happens with this rainforest thing and Rei, maybe you should consult the fire?" Mina added.

"That's a good idea. And hey Ames, maybe you could dust off your special computer and try to analyze what's going on in that rainforest? It's been a while since you got to use that thing!" Lita said with a hint of excitement. She always liked the whole superhero thing. It was exciting and felt right to her. It made sense, considering the planet she was born on. As for Serena, she just wanted peace.

"Yes! I could certainly do that! I actually have it on me now. I always thought it was smart to keep it with me at all times, just in case, you know?" Ami said, beginning to dig through her purse.

"And I was already planning on doing a fire reading tonight, so we'll see what happens. We'll meet again tomorrow if I find anything," Rei said, sounding a little more like her normal self.

"Great! Let's just wait for Luna and Artemis to get back from talking to central. Then we should totally go out and enjoy the day!" Mina added in a chipper tone.

Serena stared at her four friends as they handed out ideas left and right. She couldn't think of anything to say though. She wasn't as excited as everyone else seemed. This whole fighting evil gig wasn't exactly on her list of favorite things. It came naturally for the rest of the girls, since it was they're job during the Silver Millennium. They were born for this. But not Serena. Sure, she had proven to be strong and a great fighter, but she wasn't born that way. If push came to shove, she'd definitely fight her heart out to keep the Universe safe and to protect the ones she loved, but she just wasn't ready for that shove to come, and had a hard time believing that there was even a possibility it _might_ come. The rest of the Scouts believed it though, so she went along with it.

"Sound good to you Serena?" Mina asked, drawing her out of her daze.

"What?" Serena asked blankly. She had missed whatever Mina had just been saying.

"Earth to Serena, we were just talking about going out for burgers and ice cream later, you in?" Mina smiled at her.

"Oh, yeah, of course!" Serena replied, still feeling a sense of uneasiness. But as long as they were about to do something normal and fun, then she would always be up for it.

"We're back!" Artemis said from the doorway, drawing the girl's eyes towards the two cats entering the room.

"What's the buzz?" Lita was the first to ask.

"Central had nothing to report. Unless something changes, then they think we have nothing to worry about, but we should keep our eyes open," Luna stated.

Serena's mood brightened at Luna's report, and scooted over to Rei.

"See Rei! I told you so!" She smugly while elbowing her in the arm.

"Shut it Serena! Luna also said we should keep are eyes open," Rei responded. Serena stuck her tongue out in retaliation. The two were practically adults, but still acted like children.

"Oh, grow up you two," Ami protested.

"Ami's right you know. You're 18 now Rei and Serena you will be too soon enough. It's time to start acting more adult," Luna stated with her nose up in the air.

"Oh, let them argue. It's funny. Besides, it wouldn't be the same if those two didn't get on each other's case all the time. It's just how they are," Lita defended.

"I agree. And you guys have been becoming a lot more grown up lately anyway. All of you. But you're still yourselves. And just think, you'll be graduated soon!" Artemis chimed in with pride towards his Scouts.

"Ugh! I know! It's crazy! There's only a few weeks left!" Mina said, putting her hands on her face as if in shock.

"Don't get too excited. We still have exams left. We really should start up some study sessions soon so we're prepared," of course stated by the one and only Ami.

"Don't remind me…" Serena grumbled. She dreaded the exams, especially these ones, considering their importance.

"Well, let's not worry about that today. It's beautiful out! We've sat around and worried enough. Let's go enjoy the day!" Mina proclaimed standing up, consequentially starting a bandwagon as the rest of them sprung up.

"Alright, I guess there's nothing much we can do now anyways," Rei said, defeated.

"Come on! Let's get out of here!" Lita headed towards the door and waved her arm, signaling for the girls to follow.

"Yippee!" Serena exclaimed. She bounced and skipped ahead of the pack. The good cheer everyone was now in made her instantly forget about the less than savory business they had been talking about before.

"Wait for us!" Artemis yelled from behind, pouncing out of the doorway and onto the ground, with Luna close behind.

"Not our fault you can't keep up!" Mina teased.

They all ran happily down the steps of the temple and towards the bus stop to take them downtown. All of them had pushed any unpleasantness from earlier to the back of their minds and intended on enjoying life. All of them but Rei, who instead thought they should be intended on enjoying life while they had the chance. She just _knew_ something was wrong. She couldn't prove it, but she knew it. But for now, she decided that it would be best not to worry the girls until there was _really_ something to worry about. She would enjoy the day with them, while a part of her anxiously awaited the night when she could be alone to have a fire reading. Tonight, she would stay up until she had an answer of any sort, so she could be sure they were safe, or could stay safe.

Rei prayed that her dream meant nothing, but deep down, she knew something was terribly wrong.

* * *

><p>Deep in the rainforests of South Africa, a shadow moved. It stood upon the invisible barrier between death stricken side of the forest, and the side glowing with life. It turned to face the grey, lifeless side, and it would have smiled, if it had a face. Then it turned around to face the remainder of the lush green forest, seething with energy. The shadow expanded and began to envelope the nearest tree. In response, the tree seemed to shiver. Its leaves shrunk and turned grey before easily falling off the branches and crumbling to dust before it hit the ground. The insects crawling on the bark seemed to scream from the shadows contact before shriveling up and dying. The birds, both asleep and awake, spread their wings in an attempt to get away, only to be struck unconscious. Like the leaves, the birds' colorful feathers turned to grey before falling off. They then shriveled up like the bugs until all that was left was their hallow bones which easily crumbled to dust on the forest floor.<p>

The destruction only continued. Animals fell from trees; nothing left of them but bone. The foliage on the ground died and dissipated. The once fertile soil, full of life sustaining energy, turned grey and was easily swept up by the wind.

With each bit of life it consumed, the shadow grew. Its destruction spread exponentially until the beautiful rainforest was no more.

It had only gotten half the job done last night as a test run, which had gone extremely well. Its master had been so pleased with the results that he had insisted that no time be wasted in collecting the rest of the energy from that forest. It wasn't as good as human energy, but it was much easier to get and still extremely potent. Yes, this was an excellent new idea.

With its job finished for the night, the huge shadow faded back into its rightful dimension.

Through the dust, the moonlight shown. It revealed all that was left of the rainforest; the lifeless skeletons of trees.

* * *

><p><strong>There you have it! <strong>

**Stay tuned for the next installment!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Here's chapter 3! Sorry these chapters keep being so short, but there's really not a lot going on in the story yet. Things are still getting set up and I want there to be a pretty strong background before it starts getting into the action.**

**I wrote this chapter pretty fast and I just skimmed through the editing process so I apologize for any errors, and let me know if you see any so I can fix them. It's late so I didn't really feel like getting too into it!**

**Oh and the next chapter probably won't be up as fast as this one was because I usually take my time, so don't get used to fast updates;]**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

The day had been carefree and fun for the Scouts, though a shadow of fear still hung over Rei. She managed to hide it well and she did enjoy the day with her friends. They ran around the park, stuffed their faces, laid out in the sun, and bickered. Of course, it was mostly just her and Serena doing the bickering.

When the sun began to set and all of them parted ways, Rei's sense of urgency and concern returned fully. She practically sprinted back to her temple. As soon as she was back inside, she slid the door firmly shut behind her and nearly fell back against the door, desperately trying to catch her breath.

Cautiously, Rei walked over to the already lit fire. Slowly, she kneeled before it with determination burning in her eyes with almost as much intensity as the real life flames burned.

Just as she was about to begin, a soft knock came at the door.

"Rei?" An uncertain voice questioned.

_Chad_. Rei sighed internally.

Chad had been working at the temple for well over a year now, and he was great help to her grandfather. He had just sort of landed there after trying to be a "rock star" kind of failed for him and he needed a place to get away. He hadn't intended on staying as long as he had, but he found he loved the temple, and he was also rather fod of a certain raven haired girl there as well.

"Yes?" She answered, turning to face the door. He slid it open only slightly, instantly becoming shy in her presence.

"I, uh, your grandfather was worried when you just, um, ran in here without, you know, saying anything. Is…is everything alright?" He blushed slightly behind his long hair. Rei sighed. She appreciated his concern, but she needed to be alone.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks Chad. I just need to be left alone for a while," she said kindly, forcing a smile.

"Alright, I'll make sure no one disturbs you," He smiled before sliding the door shut softly.

Rei turned around and faced the fire again. She looked down and closed her eyes, allowing herself to fall into a deep trance.

* * *

><p>It was just after sundown when Serena and Luna waltzed back into their home. They had been talking and laughing until they opened the door and Luna had to go into full on house cat mode. Serena's family, or anyone else on Earth, wasn't exactly accustomed to talking cats.<p>

"Hi Sammy!" Serena waved to her kid brother who was sitting on the couch watching TV. Well, he wasn't really a kid anymore. He was fourteen now. His voice had developed within the last year and Serena often couldn't believe how fast he had been growing up. Sure, he still had a ways to go, but she still looked at him and expected to see a short little kid she had felt so protective of and annoyed with. Now it seemed he could fend for himself, though he still annoyed the crap out of her.

"Hey, meatball for brains," Sammy said nonchalantly, not breaking his gaze from the TV. Serena just stuck her tongue out of him, though he didn't see it.

Serena aimed for the stairs, but stopped when she passed the kitchen, seeing her mother out the corner of her eye.

"Hi mama! Ooo, is that lemon pie?" the girl questioned with hungry eyes. Her mother's cooking was superb, but her baking…there was no words to describe it.

"Yes dear, but save some for your father! He was held over at the office. He'll be hungry when he gets home!" She warned.

Serena was already stuffing her face with a hardy slice.

"Kay," she replied through a full mouth.

Luna began to rub against Serena's leg and purr; she was attempting to butter her up. Use to the cat's silent language, Serena knew exactly what she wanted as she cut another slice and headed up the stairs.

"Thanks mom!" Serena called down before entering her room.

After ensuring the door was shut tight, Serena walked over to the small table in her room and set down the piece of pie.

"Here you go Luna!"

"Oh Serena, you know me so well!" Luna cooed before opening her mouth wide, revealing threatening looking fangs, and taking a huge chunk out of the pie slice.

Serena giggled at the sight of her guardian indulging. Luna may make fun of her for her eating habits, but in reality, she was no better.

After a moment, Serena turned away from Luna and sighed. She walked over to her window and opened it, letting a cool summer breeze inside. Gently, Serena sat down in front of the window, folded her arms on the sill and laid her head on top; she then proceeded to loose herself in her thoughts.

Unwillingly, her mind wandered to the topic from early that afternoon at Rei's temple. She didn't want to admit it, but she _did_ feel as if something was wrong and it worried her. It had been so long since they'd had any danger in their life that she had tricked herself into thinking it was gone forever. But it was a foolish thought, yet Serena still wanted to believe it. _No, you shouldn't believe it. You need to be prepared for these things. You need to be ready to fight and do you duty. _She thought. _But I don't want to fight_. She rethought.

Things were like this in Serena's head lately. There was a constant battle between what she knew was her Moon Princess/Sailor Moon side, and her innocent, want-to-be-ordinary-girl Serena side. Currently, both sides were tied when it came to who won the thought battle. But what Serena didn't realize was that this was a sign that she was growing up and becoming who she was meant to be; who she truly was.

Finished with her pie, Luna walked over to girl and jumped up on the window sill.

"Something wrong, Serena?" She asked with concern. Serena raised her head and just sighed.

"No, nothing. I'm fine," she lied. She truly was concerned about Rei's dream, but her youthful side wouldn't allow her to admit it.

"Oh, come now. I can tell something is bothering you. I wasn't born yesterday you know," Luna teased slightly.

Serena struggled to come up with an answer. She didn't want to tell her the truth, but she didn't want to lie either.

"I don't know Luna…" she hesitated.

"What is it Serena? You know, as future Queen, you shouldn't try to hide things. Remember, I have always been the Queen's Counsel, and I just wish you would feel comfortable sharing things with me, Serena."

Serena sighed in defeat. She knew what side of her was going to win this round.

"I guess I'm just worried."

"About Rei's dream?" Luna asked knowingly.

"Yeah. I just have a bit of a bad feeling I guess. It just seems silly to me, but, that's how I feel."

To Serena's confusion, she saw Luna smile.

"What are you smiling about?" She asked, genuinely confused.

"Oh, Serena. You're growing up."

Normally, Serena would have had something to say about Luna's comment. But this time, the girl surprised herself by smiling.

* * *

><p>It was the middle of the night when Darien heard his phone ring. He looked to his bedside clock which read 2:03 AM and shot a confused look over at his telephone next to it. Deciding to answer it, he sighed before sitting up and picking up the phone off the receiver.<p>

"Hello?" He asked with more of an inflection than usual. Who in the world would call him at this time?

"Hello, Darien?" An uncertain female voice spoke.

"Who is this?" He questioned lightly.

"Oh, sorry it's Rei. Sorry, I know it's late."

"Rei? What's up? Is something wrong?" He switched his tone over to that of concern. She wasn't exactly a frequent caller of his.

"I just, um, has Serena told you anything yet?" She was having a hard time phrasing what she wanted to say. She didn't want to worry him, but she felt he had the right to know.

Taken aback a bit from her comment, it took Darien a moment to respond to Rei's question.

"Told me anything? About what?" His tone became more serious now; worrying that Serena might be in trouble.

"Well, I had talked to her and the girls this afternoon about a dream I had last night. And I just finished a fire reading and…" Rei paused as she thought back to what she had seen. It had taken her hours to find answers from the fire but she had finally seen something. It was an image of a dead forest, and she saw the face again. In a way, the fire had confirmed to her that her initial thoughts had been correct, and that there certainly was reason to worry. It wasn't a lot, but the feeling the fire reading had purposely evoked in her was enough to keep her on edge.

"…And what?" Darien asked, brining Rei out of her thoughts.

"Oh, it's just, I think Serena might be in some sort of danger. Nothing immediate, but, I think we should all keep an eye on her, and I thought you would want to know. I have a feeling she won't want to tell you, but I think you have a right to know. We might have a new threat on our hands soon, if not already."

Darien's body tensed at Rei's words. He didn't doubt her, or dare to doubt her, for one second. He could sense the fear in Rei's voice, though she had been trying to hide it.

He ran a stressful hand through his ebony hair before sighing.

"Do you think this…threat…is after her?" He wanted to know everything he could, but he knew she didn't know as much as she herself wished.

"I'm not sure, but I sense danger towards her especially. I don't mean to make you worry…" but he cut her off before she could apologize needlessly.

"No, no, I want to know this."

He heard her sigh sadly.

"Alright, well, sorry to wake you up."

"No, I'm glad you told me. I'll definitely keep an eye on her. I'll make sure she's safe," he promised her, though it was more of a promise to his self. Serena wasn't the type to want people to worry about her. In fact, she was the opposite. She would rather put herself in danger than have people endanger themselves for her. But Darien wasn't about to allow harm to come to her. She was just going to have to deal with a bit of overprotectiveness until whatever this was blew over.

"Thanks Darien. Try to get some sleep."

"You too, you must be exhausted."

"I'll be alright," she smiled. "Talk to you later."

"You too, and if you find out anything else, let me know."

"Will do. Bye," she said before hanging up.

Darien slowly placed the phone back on the receiver. He dropped his head in his hands and felt tiredness, worry, and a bit of anger flow through him. Things had been going so well, but now he feared that might all slip away. He didn't mind fighting, but he didn't want anyone else in danger, least of all Serena. Plus he was getting accustomed to the bit of peace they were enduring. He had so been looking forward to a beautiful summer, but now he feared it might turn into a nightmare.


	5. Chapter 4

**Hey there! Sorry it took so long to get up this chapter. I've been a little busy and I was getting a little indecisive about how I was going to go about writing this chapter, but I finally got it! No action yet, it'll be a few more chapters before that happens, so enjoy the peace while it's here! **

**And a reminder, I DO NOT OWN Sailor Moon. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

"Scientists still haven't figured out the cause of the strange disease that killed an entire rainforest over the course of only two days. An investigation continues but there have been no clues as to why and how this happened. The primary concern now is the chances of this striking again, where that might happened, and how to prevent it. However, without knowing anything about the nature of this disease, it is near impossible to predict any future reoccurrences. There is also concern about the effects the loss of this ecosystem may have on the surrounding environment…"

Lita lifted the remote and turn the TV off. With nothing new to report for a week now, it was apparent in the newscaster's voice that he was getting tired of this story. Frankly, the girls were too, now that it had abruptly stopped just as fast as it had started.

The girls were all sitting around Serena's living room on a Sunday night. It was a week after Rei had her dream and no danger had risen, at least that they knew of. Presently, they were all too concerned about their finals for their classes. They had come to Serena's to study for their economics final, and they also didn't mind the fact that her mother had made a delicious chocolate cake. Taking a break from their studies, they had polished off the cake and checked on the news. .

"Well, that's it then, I guess," Lita stated with melancholy. She didn't like that they didn't have answers to what had happened, but there was nothing they could do about it now.

"You never found out anything on your computer, Ami?" Luna asked.

"No. There was no trace of any disease at all. It looked like everything just suddenly died, but I couldn't find out why, probably because I wasn't able to analyze it _while_ it was happening. I think that might have been key, but it also doesn't help that we're nowhere near that rainforest, so the signal was very weak."

"But things don't just die like that!" Rei exclaimed.

"No _duh_! Thanks for pointing out the obvious Rei," Serena prodded. She was annoyed and just sick of this whole situation. It was pointless now was them to focus on it unless something new happens.

Mina looked at Rei, whose demeanor had changed from slight annoyance to full on rage, and she knew she had to act quickly before the situation escalated. She was fairly certain Rei's anger could raise the temperature enough to burn down Serena's house.

"Hey Rei!" Mina yelled nervously, effectively grabbing Rei's attention. Mina gulped when she saw Rei's enraged stare turn to her.

"Don't you think it's time to just let it go for now, girl? I mean, nothing we can do about it now so we don't wanna see you stressing out!" Mina stated with care. Serena might not be afraid of pissing Rei off, but Mina did not want to test the waters with her.

Rei sighed at her friend's words and slouched back against Serena's couch, folding her arms and pouting. Luckily, she didn't see Serena stick out her tongue at her.

"Serena, don't be an instigator," Ami warned, turning her attention towards the papers and texts books spread about the coffee table.

"I'm not!" Serena whined.

"Oh quit it, let's just get back to studying," Lita cut in, also turning her attention towards the endless papers.

Serena, Mina, and Rei huffed and dropped their heads in unison. The three had mentally checked themselves out long ago. Though Lita and Ami were still holding strong, the rest of the Scouts found themselves defeated. They all silently cursed whoever decided economics should be a required course.

The girls were quickly pulled out of their depression at the sound of the door opening. They all turned their heads towards the door to see Luna and Artemis sauntering in. Desperate for any distraction, the three girls perked up immediately, while Lita and Ami seemed rather unfazed by their guardian's entrance.

"Hi guys!" Serena said, instantly perking up. Rei slapped Serena upside the head, to the girl's utter confusion.

"Your mom is in the other room you dummy!" Rei whispered roughly to Serena, who stayed confused for a moment until it suddenly hit her; cats don't talk.

The felines advanced towards the girls happily. Artemis reached them first and jumped up into Mina's lap, then up on her shoulder where he started purring affectionately and rubbed back and forth against her face. Mina giggled and scratched her guardian behind the ears. Luna only jumped up on Serena's lap and lay down, receiving Serena's and Rei's hands to pamper her with petting. She instantly started purring and smiled.

"Did you kitties have a nice walk?" Mina cooed in a sing-song voice. Luna grimaced and Artemis snickered at Mina's tone.

"You mean date, don't you Mina?" Serena elbowed her knowingly. She knew that would get to the cats, and they couldn't retaliate right then with the chance of being discovered. A low growl could be heard growing from the back of Luna's throat, and Artemis seemed to blush through his white fur and hid his face in the crook of Mina's neck.

"Ah oh, is someone embarrassed?" Lita chimed in, now losing all interest in studying and putting towards this little game they were starting.

Artemis meowed angrily; trying to stand up for what little was left of his pride, though meowing didn't really seem to help the cause because the girls just laughed more. Luna's growl then turned into a full blown roar, making the girls jump a little.

"What's wrong Luna; don't wanna admit you're in looooove?" Serena snickered.

Luna jumped up at Serena's comment, turned around, and pounced on her head. Serena squealed as Luna started to claw at her hair. She didn't scratch the girl, but she effectively messed up her hair. Serena's arms flailed trying to shake the cat off of her head but the more she panicked, the harder it was for her to effectively grab at Luna. Everyone just sat and watched with their jaw dropped.

When Luna finally decided to jump down off her head, Serena's hair looked to be beyond repair. It was standing on end in every direction and was tangled into a rat's nest. Luna walked away with her nose high in the air and a high sense of pride, which heightened when she saw the Scout's and Artemis' shocked faces.

As soon as the shock wore off, which didn't take too long, and Serena's appearance sunk in, the laughing fest commenced. It went from dead silence to deafening laughter in an instant. Serena was fuming.

At the loud sounds of the laughter, Serena's mother, Ilene, was drawn into the living room to investigate. The first thing she saw was Serena's hair and couldn't help but join in with the laughter, however she was more subtle about it and covered her mouth with her hand. Should her daughter see her laughing, she was sure the girl might start bawling. Of course, Serena heard her anyway and turned around to see her mother snickering in the doorway.

"Mom!" Serena shouted angrily, feeling betrayed.

"Sorry…honey…" Ilene said between giggles.

"Need to borrow my brush Serena?" Mina laughed. She was to the point of tears.

"Yeah! Or do you want me to just cut it off for you?" Rei added.

Serena's face grew red and she clutched her hands into painfully tight fists at her side.

"Hey Serena, how do you think Darien would feel about your new look?" Lita said.

Serena started trembling with fury.

"I have my camera in my purse!" Ami added in a serious and excited tone.

"Go get it!" Rei demanded.

Ami started to make a move to get up from the floor when Serena finally exploded.

"STOP IT!" Serena screamed, effectively stunning everyone in the room. They all clutched their hands over their ears from the insane amount of decibels suddenly released from Serena. They stared back at her in shock as the girl started to cool down. What was surprising was the fact that she didn't cry, and just the amount of fury in her voice, which was rather frightening.

"…Serena…" Ilene began carefully, "please keep it down, honey," she said before turning around and leaving the room. Serena's eyes followed her out and once she was gone, she glared back to her friends who stayed unmoving.

After a long moment, Serena finally spoke.

"Are one of you gonna help me with this?" She asked, pointing a finger at her still disheveled hair. Mina jumped up at once.

"Alright, alright, come on, up to the bathroom!" Mina said, making her way over to Serena to start to gentle nudge her towards the stairs.

"We'll help!" the rest cried in unison and jumped up simultaneously. They wouldn't miss this for the world.

The two cats left over just looked at each other and shrugged before jumping off the couch and following the girls up the stairs.

* * *

><p>It had taken the girls an hour to fix Serena's hair. It started with a futile attempt at brushing out the tangles. They attempted that for only about two minutes; they couldn't deal with Serena's screaming and inability to sit still. After that, Mina suggested washing it, so the girls forced Serena's head under the faucet in the bathtub and all scrubbed at her head, despite Serena struggling against them. The girls mercilessly loaded Serena's hair with about half a bottle of conditioner, which seemed to help smooth out her hair, but took forever to rinse out.<p>

After Serena's hair was washed and toweled off a bit, they attempted brushing her still damp locks. To their dismay, they found that it was still extremely tangled. So they spent the rest of the time slowly working at the knots, trying to be as gentle as possible with Serena, since the so called 'princess' had zero tolerance for pain.

Though it seemed impossible, the Scouts conquered the mission to fix Serena's hair.

"So do you forgive us for laughing at you now?" Mina asked Serena as she stepped back. As the ring leader of this whole process, Mina felt as if she were scrutinizing her handiwork as she looked at Serena's hair with her hands on her hips and a very serious expression on her face.

"I guess so," Serena admitted stubbornly, "but Luna on the other hand!" she pointed to the feline who was taken aback by the hostility in Serena's voice, "she has some serious sucking up to do!"

"I'm sorry Serena! But you shouldn't have teased!" Luna defended.

"I wasn't the only one!" Serena shouted back. Luna had a nervous look on her face. She realized she didn't have a good argument built up, which was rare for her, and that she had only attacked Serena because her comment had been the one made at her breaking point, though it could have been anyone of the girls to have done that. She had royally screwed up.

"No, but…" Luna started shakily, but was cut off by Serena.

"Tell you what," Serena interrupted, seeing that the cat had no game, "I'll forgive you, but you have to do something for me." Serena grinned evilly as she thought of just what she wanted from Luna. The cat gulped fearfully.

"Which is…?" Luna asked.

"I want you to address me as Your Highness for a full week," Serena said triumphantly.

"Absolutely not! That is ridiculous! Since when have you cared about being royalty? You're still a young girl and…" Luna raved until she was, once again, cut off by Serena.

"Or I _could_ just think of some way to get back at you, but I thought this way would be much easier for the both of us…."

"ALRIGHT!" Luna yelled.

"Alright, what…?" Serena prodded expectantly. She was going to take this punishment extremely seriously.

"Alright…Your Highness," Luna stated between gritted teeth.

The girls and Artemis snickered.

"That's better," Serena said smugly. She was going to enjoy being around Luna this week.

* * *

><p>The next day, the Scouts had their economics final. They had all gotten up early and eaten a large breakfast together at Lita's apartment (Lita had made the breakfast of course) and done some last minute cramming. Even Serena had managed to get up early and come; the promise of food could be rather convincing for her.<p>

The girls only had a few more tests to go, all which would take place this week and, with the economics test over with, they were beginning to feel that this was the end. It had finally sunk in that once they finished their tests and the week was over, they would be finished with high school. They would have to wait one more week before walking the stage, but they would actually be finished with high school and never have to go back! No one was more excited than Serena, who had really struggled in school and had finally stabilized her grades this year. Not to mention the fact that her birthday was right after graduation. She'd be 18! A legal adult!

With all of this finally sinking in, the girls felt the need to go to the Crown Arcade after school that day. They needed a little bit of reminiscing time, and food to power up their brain which had been drained after their test.

They hadn't been going to the Arcade as frequently as they used to, school had been keeping them pretty busy this year, so it felt good to be back to the ordinary. Andrew still worked there and was happy to see his favorite customers enter again.

"Hey you guys!" Andrew waved, "Where have you been? It seems like it's been forever since you guys were last here!"

"Oh, come on! It's only been like a few weeks!" Mina said sweetly. She had a thing about flirting with Andrew, well, they all did, except for maybe Ami and Rei. But come on! Andrew was a cutie!

"More like a month! You guys used to be in here every day!" Andrew argued with a smile. He was standing behind the counter at the Arcade where they served food.

"Yeah, well, we've kind of been pretty busy lately, you know, with our Senior year wrapping up and all," Rei said with a hint of attitude.

Andrew slapped his head as if he'd just come to a sudden realization.

"I forgot! Oh my gosh! I can't believe it! You guys are almost graduated!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yup! And to think how young I was when we first met…now I'm practically a woman!" Serena said flirtatiously, not trying to disguise it at all. She may love Darien, and Andrew may love his girlfriend Rita, but Serena refused to give up her obsession of Andrew, whom was her first crush since she was 13. She still got angry at her friends when they tried to flirt with him too. Andrew was hers! In fact, she had shot Mina a look of daggers when she had attempted to flirt with him a minute ago.

"Oh you've always been a woman, Serena! But you're right; you have grown up a hell of a lot since we met!" Andrew said, making Serena's ego inflate and her heart glow. She had a very hard time not squealing in joy when he said she'd always been a woman.

"Awww, thanks Andrew!" Serena beamed.

"Of course Serena! So will it be the usual for you girls?" Andrew asked, getting down to business.

"Yeah, definitely!" Lita said eagerly. She had been waiting for her opportunity to get in on the flirting.

"Ugh, and make it fast! I am _staaaarving_," Serena said dramatically.

"Oh Serena, you're always starving!" Ami giggled.

"Yeah, you pig!" Rei teased. Serena only stuck her tongue out at her. She didn't feel like going at it in front of Andrew.

"Come on guys! Let's go grab our booth!" Lita said as she started over towards their usual spot in the dining area of the Arcade. They all happily bounced along behind her and scooted into the booth with ease.

"It feels good to be back at the Crown," Mina sighed happily.

"I'll say. I missed it here! I know it hasn't been _that_ long, but being here makes me feel…safe, ya know? Like, whatever the future holds for us, we'll always have this place!" Lita stated.

"Mhm, I don't think I could ever get tired of being here!" Serena said.

"If you haven't gotten sick of it _yet_, I don't see how you ever could. You're the one who's been coming here the longest, and the most often," Rei said, rolling her eyes at the end.

"You're just jealous because I had Andrew's heart first!" Serena said smugly with her head held high.

"Oh please, as if Andrew would go for you, besides, he has Rita," Rei debated, making Serena, Mina, and Lita sigh sadly at the mention of Andrew's longtime girlfriend.

"And anyway, you have Darien!" Rei added.

"Yeah! That's right! You have no business flirting with Andrew anymore!" Lita said, pointing an accusing finger towards Serena.

"Let us single ladies have a shot at him!" Mina added.

"But…but…he was my first crush!" Serena pouted.

"I think it may be time to get over that Serena. You're almost 18 now, and you've been with Darien for quite some time now, and are destined to be with him for quite a bit longer," Ami added.

"In fact, you've pretty much been with Darien for a good millennium, and that's a pretty long term relationship, don't you think?" Lita asked rhetorically.

"Oh please, there we weren't alive for a good thousand years," Serena waved a hand dismissively.

"Yeah but you're hearts belonged to each other!" Mina said. Serena just rolled her eyes. The Scout of Venus _would_ be the one to say something like that.

"Well, I didn't even know it did for 16 years of _this_ life!" Serena argued.

"But it still did!" Mina retorted quickly.

At a loss for words, Serena could only reply with a "So?" nonchalantly.

There was a couple of seconds of silence between the girls when the door to the Arcade was heard opening. They all looked over to see who it was and recognized him immediately.

"DARIEN!" Serena squealed. In an instant, she had jumped out of the booth (luckily she was sitting at the end and didn't have to climb over anyone) and ran over to him before he even had time to register that Serena had shouted his name. It hit him that it was her as soon as _she_ hit him, embracing him in a tight hug around the waist.

"Serena, you're hurting me!" he gasped, putting his hands gentle on her shoulders. She released him instantly, feeling a bit embarrassed and looking around to make sure that no one in the arcade was staring at her.

"Oops! Sorry!" she said.

"It's alright," he said, taking her back in his arms and hugging her lightly.

"I thought you had to work this afternoon!" Serena said after they pulled away from their embrace.

"I thought so too, but apparently someone had switched shifts with me and another guy, and neglected to tell me that we had switched," Darien said with a tone of annoyance as he thought back to his earlier complication at his job. He had two jobs and this particular one was in retail, a job which Darien had grown to believe was the ninth circle of Dante's Inferno, in one of the department stores in the local mall.

"Well you can come spend the day with us!" Serena said turning back to the girls, making Darien look over to them in response before turning his attention back to the radiant Serena.

"We just got here and ordered some food!" she continued.

"I was actually hoping you guys would be here, but I did want to see Andrew, too," Darien said.

"Well go talk to him silly! I'm gonna go back and sit with the girls," Serena said lovingly. Darien just smiled at her, returning the loving emotion.

"Alright, I'll order some food too and eat with you guys," he said as they walked towards the dining area.

"Okie dokie!" she said as she parted with him and skipped back over to her booth.

Darien continued over to the counter where he pulled up a bar stool and started to chat happily with Andrew.

Serena smiled over at her boyfriend when she was seated back in the booth before turning back to face her friends. They all had a strange smile on their face that made Serena feel nervous.

"You see?" Lita started.

"See what?" Serena asked, genuinely confused.

"You are one hundred percent taken, girl. So stop fussing over Andrew!" Mina said.

"But I don't wanna!" Serena whined stubbornly.

A loud sigh of annoyance escaped all the girl's lips as they hung their head in disbelief. There was just no winning when it came to Serena!

* * *

><p>In the deep dark depths of the Negaverse, where the endless maze of caves cleared to huge cavern, monsters and other Nega-creatures began to gather. Slowly, they all approached the huge platform where the abandoned thrown stood. It grew rather noisy in the cavern as voices echoed, voices which were dark and angry and questioning why they had been summoned all of the sudden.<p>

Since the Great Negaforce had begun controlling the creature of the Negaverse again six months ago, things had been quiet and secretive in the Dark Kingdom. For a while, it had seemed to them that the kingdom had fallen for good, until the great booming voice of the Negaforce had sounded and called all the creatures back and into obedience. Nothing else that they knew of had happened afterwards, except for a few punishments when a creature tried to step out of line. They had all just been ordered to return to their respective caves and to not cause trouble. There was talk of a new leader, but that had died down soon seeing as no one was brought forward claiming the thrown. Instead, they waited; knowing that at some point, the great and mysterious wisdom of the Negaforce would clarify things and give them a purpose once again.

The Negaforce had called them to the Great Hall of the Negaverse, which had been abandoned since the fall of Beryl. All the creatures had made their way there at once and waited anxiously for further commands.

After some time, the voice of the Negaforce sounded through the cavern. The voice was feminine but dark, and was able to send shivers down the spine of even the most evil of beings. Surely the evil in the voice of the Negaforce could never be matched.

"I have called you all here on a very important matter…" the voice echoed, "A matter of the rebirth of the Dark Kingdom!" it exclaimed triumphantly. There were roars of approval that echoed afterwards from all corners of the Great Hall.

"SILENCE!" the voice boomed after it had given the creatures a moment to rejoice. Immediately, the voices ceased and the Negaforce waited for the echoes to die out before continuing.

"It is time the Negaverse rise again to seek revenge on those who sought to destroy it!" cheers started again, but quickly stopped as the Voice continued to speak, "And this time we shall not fail in claiming the Universe for our own. But this time, our approach will be different. In fact, we have already started collecting energy without the interference of any of the humans on Earth! We will gain power while the Earthlings remain unaware and when we are ready we will DESTROY THEM!" The cheers were even louder this time, and the creatures were given more time than before to express their evil joy.

"SILENCE!" the voice roared even louder.

"But first," it started more softly once the echoes dissipated, "you shall all bow down to your new King! Come forward, Heliodor!"

All eyes shifted towards the platform they were gathered around as a dark mist began to swirl in the center. It had started gently but began to swirl violently as wind picked up around the platform and the creatures nearest to the mist had to shield themselves from the threatening wind until it suddenly stopped.

When they looked up, a man was standing where the mist once was. He stood with his arms crossed over his broad chest and he had a proud smile plastered on his face. He wore a black cape and a violet uniform that enhanced his manly form. He had shaggy hair that was the color of blood and his eyes were a glowing yellow. He was frighteningly intimidating and the creatures looked upon him with awe.

Without a word, the creatures of the Negaverse one by one began to bow down to their new king. Soon the whole cavern of creatures was lowered before King Heliodor, whose proud smile broadened evilly.

"Welcome, my people, to the new kingdom of the Negaverse!" Heliodor exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in triumph.

Dark cheers rang out even louder as the evil creatures applauded the arrival of their new King. He surely would at last lead them to rule the Universe.

* * *

><p><strong>There you have it! Oh, and I thought I'd share why I chose the name Heliodor...<strong>

**Since all the Negaverse dude are named after minerals, I looked up the names of some and saw this one and loved it, but whats really cool is that Heliodor is a variety of Beryl;] Cool little connection with the name. **


	6. Chapter 5

**Sorry it's been so long! I've been pretty busy. I was working a lot because of Easter and then I was helping out with the Cover The Night thing for Invisible Children in my city. Between that and writer's block, I haven't been able to write a lot at a time. I finally finished this chapter up tonight. Hopefully, the wait for the next one won't be so long.**

**I'm thinking the next one may have a time gap, but I'm not decided on that yet. We'll just have to wit and see! **

**It may be a week or two until the next one, since my BIRTHDAY is coming up this weekend! Woop Woop!**

**And I'd like to thank all of of you who've reviewed my story and added it to your alerts/favorites. I really appreciate it and it keeps me going.**

**Again, I absolutely do NOT own Sailor Moon. **

**And now, with out further ado...enjoy:]**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

Serena stared at the clock on the wall anxiously. She was full of mixed emotions; excitement, sadness, fear, and relief. She tapped her fingers against her desk impatiently and bit her lip hard as she concentrated on the seconds ticking by. _One more minute_, she thought, _one more minute and I'm free_.

There was a movie playing on the projector in front of her, but she could care less. Through the laughter, shouting, and excitement around her, she managed to stay completely focused on the clock and lost in her own world.

Beside her sat her longtime friend, Molly, who was just as impatient and anxious as she was. Both were glaring at the clock, willing it to go faster. Of course, it only seemed to go slower the more they willed it. But eventually, the second hand was only ten painfully slow seconds away from 3:00 in the afternoon.

Both Serena and Molly counted down the seconds in their head.

_10…_

_9…_

_8…_

_7…_

_6…_

_5…_

_4…_

_3…_

_2…_

_1…_

And the final bell for their last day of high school, ever, rung out, along with cheers from the entire student body of Crossroads High School.

Serena and Molly jumped up from their desks shouting in glee. The two girls instantly embraced each other and, without warning, the tears started to fall. They had been best friends for all of their school career, since they met in kindergarten, and now, that career as that knew it was ended. As the girls embraced, the memories of all they had gone through together over the years flooded into the front of their minds. This chapter was closing; a chapter that had felt like it would never end. So they clung onto each other, silently hoping they would cling onto their memories and friendship.

After a couple minutes of sobbing into Molly's shoulder, a thought struck Serena.

"Molly?" she started, raising her head up. Molly, who had her face dug into Serena's shoulder looked up then too and locked eyes curiously with her dear friend.

"Yeah Serena?" Molly sniffled.

"This isn't the end Molly," Serena smiled lightly; "this is a new beginning! We're gonna walk out of this building together and start our lives! And this time we can have fun without worrying about being late for class!"

Molly smiled at her friends words and laughed happily.

"You mean _you_ won't have to worry about being late for class," Molly joked.

"Hey! I've gotten better! Anyways, you get my point! Now let's get outta here!" Serena stated, wiping away the last of her tears, grabbing her friend's hand, and heading out the classroom door.

The two skipped through the hallways without looking back. They had to fight the crowds a bit, since everyone was scrambling around, saying goodbye, gathering the last of their things, and trying to get the hell out of there. But once Serena and Molly got to the main doors, they paused. The stared dead ahead, not quite out the doors, but into their future outside their high school's walls. Without thinking, the two linked hands. They turned their heads to each other and gave a light smile, silently conveying to each other that they were ready. Without a word, they stepped forward and headed out the doors.

Serena's eyelids fell as she breathed in a deep, peaceful breath. She freed herself from the past and held her head up high, knowing she had made it. Her next step was to walk the stage and then she'd officially be done with high school.

When she opened her eyes, she looked and saw Ami and Lita walking towards her. Immediately, she started to wave frantically to them, her hand still linked with Molly.

"Hey guys!" Serena shouted excitedly.

She glanced over to Molly whose attention was aimed in the opposite direction as she started waving at someone else. It didn't take Serena long to see who her friend was looking at.

"Hi Melvin!" Molly yelled sweetly to a boy with light brown hair and glasses.

Once upon a time, Melvin was a scrawny little boy with an annoying voice and huge glasses. Serena briefly pictured Melvin four years ago, when they first started high school; hell, even just two years ago he had still looked ridiculously nerdy. Nowadays, Melvin was taller, a bit more built (nothing to gawk over but not as scrawny as he once was), his voice had gotten deeper so it wasn't as annoying, and he upgraded to glasses that weren't the size of his face.

Puberty is a pretty cool force of nature.

Melvin gave a single wave as he approached the girls.

"Hey Molly, Serena, Ami, Lita!" he greeted. Serena turned around upon hearing the last two names to see that the girls had indeed caught up to them, and now that Melvin had joined them, they began to move forward as a group down the sidewalk.

"Can you believe it? We're finished with high school!" Lita exclaimed.

"Don't forget now, we're not done with school yet. We have college in only a few months!" Ami reminded. The rest of the group sighed, except for Melvin who was almost as good at school as Ami and took it almost as seriously.

"I don't want to think about that now! I want to enjoy this feeling of freedom! And you should too Ami! Worry about that stuff when it's time to worry about it!" Serena stated joyfully.

From the corner of her eye, Serena saw Melvin link hands with Molly. She couldn't help but curl her lips up into a small smile. The couple had been together for nearly two years. At first it seemed like an odd pairing, but seeing how happy they were, it was clear the two were perfect for each other. Serena was happy for her two dear friends. Sometimes she found herself thanking herself for them getting together; the romance had started to blossom during the time the Negaverse was at large and she couldn't help but feel that her alter ego as Sailor Moon had played a part in the creation of the couple.

"I don't have to worry if I'm prepared!" Ami retorted.

"But you're worrying right now anyway!" Lita pointed out.

"Yeah! You're going to enjoy this summer whether you like it or not!" Serena pointed to her brainy friend in a threatening matter.

"Uh, Serena? You do realize that doesn't make sense, right?" Molly asked with very little confidence that her friend would understand.

"Huh?" Nope. She didn't get it.

Melvin was about to open his mouth to explain that you can't enjoy something…if you don't enjoy it, but Lita held up a hand in front of his face to signal for him to keep quiet.

"Don't even bother, she's not gonna get it," Lita reasoned.

"Get what? OH!" Serena exclaimed. Her friends turned to her in surprise. Had she understood?

"It's just a figure of speech! Right? '_Like it or not_.' I guess I didn't think that sentence through! Hehe!" She laughed in slight embarrassment. The group just shook their heads.

"So where are we heading to guys?" Moly asked after noticing they had been walking down the street without a destination in mind.

"Hmm, how about we go to the arcade? We're heading in that direction anyway! Now that school's over, we can start going there all the time again!" Serena chimed.

"Sounds good to me! I bet ya that Mina and Rei are thinking the same thing!" Lita said.

"Oh it'll be nice to be able to unwind at the Crown again!" Molly sighed happily.

"Until you get wound up again losing at video games!" Melvin laughed.

"Hey! What makes you think I'll lose?" Molly snapped.

"Oh! Uh…nothing! Just kidding!" Melvin defended nervously, afraid of the consequences of making fun of his girlfriend.

"That's better," Molly said, turning her nose up. Melvin let out his breath now that he was out of danger, and the group continued on.

* * *

><p>Darien sat at the counter at the Crown Arcade, deep in thought. He had been talking to Andrew, his best friend, but since Andrew was working, he had to go and attend to the soda a five year old spilled in the Arcade area. As soon as he walked away, Darien became lost in thought.<p>

He was still dwelling over the late night phone call from Rei. Since then, his _own_ dreams have been unsettling. He could hardly remember them, but he knew there was some kind of danger in them, threatening everything he loves. Each night since that phone call, he would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.

As he sat there, continuously stirring his coffee, he tried to remember any details from his dreams, but the more he thought about it, the more it eluded him. Instead, he went back to Rei's words, and wondered if they held any truth in them. He felt in his gut that his dreams were tied in with whatever visions Rei was having, which made his stomach turn from anxiety.

_Is Serena really in danger?_ He thought.

It drove him crazy that he had no answers, and that if this evil is real, he had no idea how to protect his princess from it.

_His princess. _

His thoughts turned over then solely to Serena.

He thought about her laugh that shined in her eyes and brightened his soul. The smile she gave him and him alone when she looked into his eyes and conveyed her love for him. Her reaction to his teasing, like when he calls her 'meatball head.'

He chuckled lightly to himself as he thought of how her demeanor could change from bubbly and carefree to offended and raging when he teased her.

He was pulled out of his revere at the sound of the bell chiming on the door to the arcade. Darien reflexively turned to see who was coming in, or going out, and he found it hard to miss the large group that was spilling in through the door. Immediately, he recognized Lita leading the group, followed by Melvin, Molly, Ami, and finally, the Meatball Head herself.

As soon as Serena caught a glimpse of Darien, she perked up dramatically and simultaneously squealed in delight before racing to him. She jumped up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He nearly got knocked off the stool he was sitting on, but luckily she was rather small and he had grown accustomed to her antics and had learned to brace himself on a moment's notice. Easily, he used one arm to hold onto the counter and hold his balance, and the other he used to catch Serena around the waist when she jumped on him.

"HI DARIEN!" Serena yelled into his ear.

"Hi Serena," Darien laughed breathlessly.

She started to loosen her grip and he took that as his cue to let her down. Once her feet were planted firmly on the ground again, he greeted the group.

"Hey there girls…and Melvin," Darien smiled.

"Hey there Darien, how's it going?" Molly asked politely.

"Good. So how was everyone's last day of high school?" And the crowd went wild. At first Molly started responding enthusiastically towards Darien, as well as Ami and Serena. With three loud girls talking to him at once, who couldn't tell what was being said, but from their overall demeanor, it seemed like it was a good day.

Somehow the conversation got turned around at some point and the whole group turned away from Darien and started chatting wildly in every which direction. Ami switched from Lita to Melvin. Molly switched from Serena to Ami and Melvin. Lita switched from Ami to….Darien stopped keeping track at that point. He just sighed and wondered if he was like this in high school.

Serena was in the middle of discussing the outfit one of the more popular girls was wearing that day with Molly and Lita when she saw Darien out of the corner of her eye, remembered he was there, and saw how bored he looked. She smiled at him and easily slipped away from the girls without them noticing she had left the conversation. In an instant, she was sitting at the stool adjacent to him at the counter, tucking her hands under her thighs to sit on them, and looking up at him with big, loving eyes.

Darien looked down at her and couldn't help but smile warmly.

"Sorry about that," Serena said softly while still looking up into Darien's dark blue eyes.

"Eh, you guys are excited, I understand," he smiled sincerely, causing Serena to widen her smile.

Unwillingly, Darien and Serena's gazes were turned away from each other as the bell above the arcade's door chimed again. Upon seeing the two new arrivals, Darien looked at Serena from the corner of his eyes and smiled knowingly as her face brightening.

"Mina, Rei!" Serena shouted. Instantly, Lita, Ami, Molly, and Melvin looked towards the door to see their two friends Serena shouted at.

Darien watched in amazement as Serena leapt from her stool and rushed to meet her two friends who were also running towards the group of friends.

Andrew came up behind the counter again, back from his cleaning endeavor, and joined Darien in watching the scene unfolding.

"I don't remember being _this_ excited on the last day of school," Andrew stated. Darien turned around a bit surprised, not realizing that Andrew had returned.

"Me neither, but we're also not girls," Darien added.

"True, but Melvin looks pretty jazzed too."

"Yeah, but he's surrounded by a bunch of bubbly and raving girls. It's hard not to get caught up in that excitement. Hell, I'm even feeling a little energetic just watching them over here."

"You got a point. Those girls sure have charisma, especially that Serena of yours," Andrew said, adding a playful punch in his friend's arm at the end. Darien chuckled.

"Yeah…she is," he said softly as he smiled at his one and only love.

"Rei seems a little off though…" Andrew mused.

"Hm?" Darien turned back to his friend, not quite hearing what he had said.

"Oh, sorry, I was kind of thinking out loud. I said Rei looks a little off," he said pointing to the raven haired girl who was standing just slightly outside of her circle of friends, rarely engaging in conversation.

Rei felt eyes on her as she stood with her friends, and she looked over towards the bar and immediately noticed Darien looking at her.

Immediately, Darien understood the girl as she looked him in the eyes. She looked so tired, and he understood why. He himself was rather tired from sleep deprivation. If _he_ was being plagued by nightmares, he can't imagine how Rei, the Sailor Scout with psychic abilities, could be getting _any_ sleep at all. As their eyes connected, he thought back to their phone conversation, and he could feel the concern that came through her voice that night coming straight through her eyes in that moment. Darien simply nodded once and with that, Rei turned back to face her excited group of friends and forced a smile.

After a moment, Andrew cleared his throat the regain Darien's attention.

"Did I miss something?" he asked. Apparently, he hadn't missed their little bit of eye contact there.

"Nah," Darien said, turning around in his chair to lean on the bar and face his friend, "I can tell she's tired, and I can empathize with that," he finished by picking up his cooled off coffee for a long sip.

"And is the coffee helping any with that?" Andrew smirked.

"No, but a guy can dream," Darien laughed lightly, taking another sip of his coffee. He turned back and looked at Serena who was smiling as bright as the sun. He sat and basked in her light and thought about the feeling of danger that was looming in the background. Silently, he promised he wouldn't let anything steal that light away.

* * *

><p>Serena and Darien sat on the edge of a dock over the lake in the park. It was 11 o'clock at night and a full moon was shining brightly down on them, illuminating the water brilliantly and making the trees glow in silver. They were sitting close together, with Serena's head resting on Darien's shoulder, and Darien's arm around her. Serena was lightly kicking her legs back and forth over the water, wishing her legs were longer so she could dip her toes in.<p>

It had been a long day, especially for Serena. She had her last day of school, and, after standing around with her friends at the arcade talking for at least an hour, they took a spontaneous trip to the beach to kick off the summer. Darien had tagged along and they had hours of fun in the sun. They had body surfed, built sand castles, buried Melvin in the sand, and attempted to play chicken with the waves crashing down on them. That last one hadn't turned out to be a very good idea, but it made for some good laughs.

And now the couple was unwinding together in peaceful bliss.

Serena sighed out of contentment and exhaustion with a smile on her face. She felt so warm when Darien held her. His thumb was rubbing her arm gently, which could lull her to sleep, if she weren't sitting on a dock.

"I could stay like this forever," Serena said softly.

"Ditto," Darien sighed, leaning his head to rest it atop hers.

"But we should probably get you home first so your parents don't start to worry," he said, bringing them back down to the reality where other people existed besides them.

"Oh, I guess so. But I don't wanna!" she pouted. Darien chuckled.

"Me neither, but I also don't want your father to strangle me," he laughed this time. Serena's father was very protective, as any father should be of his daughter, but it made it difficult for the young couple. When Serena had first introduced Darien as her boyfriend a year ago, he had gone ballistic. Luckily, Serena's mother had been there to calm him down and stop her husband from killing Darien.

"You raise a valid point sir," Serena laughed as she raised her head and reluctantly shifted away from Darien as they began to get up.

Darien got up swiftly and took Serena's hands in his to help her up. He looked into her eyes and found himself leaning his head down towards her, as she likewise leaned up towards him. Their lips met in a gentle and love filled kiss.

"I love you, Serena," Darien whispered.

"And I love you, Darien," Serena responded with a bright smile.

The two parted from each other slowly and then linked hands as they walked off the dock.

* * *

><p>Rei turned in her sleep. She dreamed of another forest being slowly destroyed by a dark power. The life was being sucked out of it. She watched from above and knew that it was not a dream; it was a vision. She knew this dark power was working right now, killing the forest she was staring down at.<p>

Looking up into the distance, she saw the face that had been haunting all her dreams lately. She stared at the face and seethed in anger.

"Who are you?" she yelled.

Though the voice did not speak, she could hear the wind around her pick up to give her an answer.

"Heliodor…" it whispered.

And with that, she awoke, breathing heavily, and drenched in sweat, but it was nothing new to her.

She got up from bed and went to her phone quickly to dial a number.

It rang, and it rang, and it rang, until finally, a tired female voice picked up.

"_Hello?"_

"Ami? It's Rei, I want you to get out your computer right now and find out if there's another forest being killed and where, and I want you to research the name 'Heliodor,'" Rei spoke quickly and urgently.

In the background, she heard Ami shuffling around.

"_Another dream?"_ Ami almost stated rather than questioned.

"A _vision_," Rei responded.

"_Hold on, I'm trying to look it up now."_

There was a pause for a minute, followed by a sharp inhale of breath on Ami's end.

"Did you find something?" Rei asked eagerly, clutching the phone tightly with both hands.

"_Yes. My computer detected a rainforest on a small island off the coast of South Africa being drained of energy. I'm trying to get more readings on it now."_

Rei's anxiety was ready to burst through the roof as she waited for Ami to find out more.

"_Damn,"_ Ami whispered.

"What is it?" Rei asked nervously, though it came out to sound as though she were angry.

"_I lost it,"_ Ami replied sadly.

"Damn…" Rei whispered.

"_Sorry Rei, but all of the sudden it just stopped. I don't know if whatever is doing this knew we were investigating this or if it was just bad timing."_

"I have a feeling it knew," Rei said coldly.

A moment of silence passed before Ami spoke again.

"_What was that name you wanted me to look up?"_

Rei was pulled out of her thoughts and instantly went back into a mode of determination.

"Heliodor," she said firmly.

Rei could hear Ami typing furiously away on her Sailor computer.

"_Um, Rei, don't freak out…"_ Ami started reluctantly.

"Why would I freak out?"

"_You know how our enemies tend to be named after minerals?"_

"No?" Leave it to the brainiac to notice something like that. What kind of mineral is named Beryl?

"_Oh…well…they are, and Heliodor is no exception. Also, and once again, don't freak out, but…Heliodor is a variety of the mineral Beryl."_

Rei gasped.

"_Don't freak out! It's probably just a coincidence! There are a lot of varieties of everything!"_

"You really expect me to believe that's a coincidence?" Rei whispered harshly.

"_It was worth a shot. Anyway Rei, you ought to try and get some sleep. It's no use fretting over it right now. We'll see if anything is on the news tomorrow."_

"Fine," Rei sighed.

"_We'll get the girls together tomorrow and discuss it, but right now, let's both go back to bed."_

"Alright Ami. Thanks. Goodnight."

"_Night Rei,"_ Ami said before hanging up.

Rei listened to the dial tone for a moment before reluctantly setting the phone back down on the receiver and walking back over to her bed where she knew she would not get a restful night's sleep.

* * *

><p>Somewhere in the depths of the Negaverse, a voice hissed in annoyance.<p>

"Those pesky Scouts are snooping into our business," Heliodor spoke.

"_Yes, I knew we would have them to contend with again, but I believe you to be competent enough to beat them, King Heliodor,"_ the Negaforce hissed.

"This time, they shall not succeed," Heliodor stated harshly.

"_No, they will not. And right now, they are weak. Continue your plan of sneaking energy out from under their noses before attacking full on."_

"Yes, mighty Negaforce," He said, bowing towards a great glowing energy source in the middle of the darkest and deepest cave in the Negaverse.

"_Now go! Waste no time!"_ the Negaforce commanded.

"Yes," Heliodor responded respectfully before turning around and walking out of the cave; a look of determination set in his eyes.

* * *

><p>Serena snuck in through her bedroom window; not wanting to wake her parents who she knew would be asleep at this time.<p>

"There you are!" a voice spoke quietly out of the darkness, startling Serena and making her almost fall out the window.

"Luna you scared me!" Serena whispered roughly.

"I'm sorry, _your highness_," Luna said through her teeth, the week was almost over but she still hadn't warmed up to addressing Serena so formerly, "but it's nearly midnight and you're just getting home!"

"It's that late? Sorry Luna, I lost track of time. I was with Darien, we were just sitting around in the park after we got home from the beach with the girls…and Melvin," Serena explained as she changed into her pajamas.

"Well, I was concerned, that's all. How was your last day of school?"

"Excellent," Serena said as she got into bed, yawned and laid her head back on her pillow.

"I'm very proud of you, Serena," Luna said as she jumped up on the bed and curled up by Serena's feet.

"Mmm," was all Serena responded as she drifted soundly asleep.

Unfortunately, the sound sleep did not last as soon she was thrown into a violent nightmare.

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><p><strong>I hope this chapter didn't seem to random, seeing as it changed scenes many times. But I felt it necessary to get the whole day's events in. <strong>

**Reviews are welcome!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hey! Sorry it's been so long since I last posted! I had a lot going on and some major writers block and I know this one is rather short, but I wanted to give you guys something and I feel like this is all that needs to be said in this chapter. **

**It's gonna be one or two more chapters of pure fluff, then I'm going to make the characters miserable mwahahaha. Okay, not THAT miserable. Maybe. We'll see. Depends what mood I'm in. **

**But yeah, once again, sorry for the delay! And remember, I do not own Sailor Moon! **

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><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

She was trapped.

The walls around her were crumbling and darkness was enveloping the once bright and beautiful palace.

She had been running; running to escape the destruction that was ensuing around her. But no matter where she turned, how fast she ran, or how much she wished it would end, the darkness and destruction only followed her. She was trapped. She knew it. Yet she kept on running out of the raw instinct to survive.

A door appeared ahead, and she knew it would lead her out of the palace. Her speed picked up as her hopes were raised. She didn't have time to think about what might be on the other side of the door.

She flung the door opened and ran outside a few yards before collapsing onto her knees with her head hung as she tried to catch her breath. But her relief was short lived as she noticed that she had not escaped the darkness after all.

As she looked up, she realized it was over. Life as she knew it was over. Her eyes widened and she inhaled sharply as her eyes took in the sight of her kingdom burning. Smoke and flames consumed the air. The stars were no longer visible. There were no signs of any life or any hope around her. She was outside now, but she felt more trapped than ever.

Slowly, she hung her head. She lowered onto her knees fully now and let her upper body fall slowly over it as her arms sagged to the ground. Her hands reached above her head as they weakly tried to grasp onto hope, but she could only feel the cracked marble of the veranda. Her body tensed as she prepared to sob, but before she could, she heard the sound of laughter echoing around her.

The laughter was deep, and full of darkness, and frightened her to say the least. Her head shot up as she searched for the source of the evil laugh. Immediately, she found that she did not have to look far.

In an instant, she realized that this was not real. This was not a memory of the fall of her kingdom all those years ago…this was different. As soon as she saw the face that materialized in front of her, she knew that this was different.

Instead of seeing the face of Queen Beryl, she saw the face of a man she had never seen before.

His skin was ghostly pale, his hair was a sickly yellow color and slicked back, his nose crooked, and his eyes red that stared right at her.

Suddenly, the anomaly in the sky that was this evil man's face was given arms that stretched out towards her. With nowhere to run, she sat and watched in horror as large hands closed around her and doused the light that was her life.

* * *

><p>Serena shot up in bed with a gasp. She attempted to gain back control of her breathing that had been labored in her sleep as she looked around frantically, gathering her senses, including that of reality.<p>

"Serena! Thank goodness you're awake!"

"Huh?" Serena questioned the voice that spoke to her. She was still coming down from her dark dream cloud.

"Serena, it's me, Luna," Luna explained in a concerned voice.

"Oh Luna, of course," Serena breathed out in relief. Now calm, her eyes were able to focus and settle on her feline friend sitting on her lap.

"You were tossing and turning so frantically! I was trying to wake you up! You were out cold!"

"Oh. Sorry Luna. I was having a bad dream," Serena said as she wiped away the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

"So I could tell…do you want to talk about it?" Luna offered, feeling uncertain. She had never seen Serena have such a horrible nightmare since Darien had been taken and brainwashed by the Negaverse.

"I…I don't know. I'm tired. I just want to sleep Luna," Serena said honestly. That dream had exhausted her, and she didn't much feel like discussing it with the fright still clenching her heart.

"Alright then," Luna said as she walked softly off of Serena's lap and to the end of the bed.

Serena lay back down and pulled her comforter over her. Luna took this as her cue that it was okay for her to go back to sleep as well.

Without another word, the two drifted off to sleep again. This time, it was dreamless for Serena.

* * *

><p>"Why don't we just teleport over, look around, if we find anything we kick its ass, and then we come home and I make dinner?" Lita asked the other girls nonchalantly.<p>

"My computer doesn't even detect that anything is over there right now. Whatever was draining that energy is gone. I'm not so sure we should waste our energy teleporting only to look at a bunch of dead trees," Ami responded.

"It might pick up something though, don't you think?" Darien questioned. As Tuxedo Mask, the Scouts thought it fit to invite him to their meetings ever since his identity was discovered. He looked a little out of place sitting around Rei's table in her small room with the five girls. While the girls all sat around the table cross-legged, he opted to sit back against the wall with his legs extended and arms crossed, looking his part as the aloof super hero.

"I suppose there's no knowing until we try…" Ami drawled out.

"I don't think we'll find anything if we go," Rei cut in seemingly out of nowhere making eyes in the room snap towards her.

"Why do you say that?" Lita asked aghast.

"It's just a feeling." The melancholy in Rei's voice was evident as she spoke this while simply shrugging and letting her eyes fall downward.

"But it couldn't hurt…" Mina started, but was cut off by the soft voice of Serena, who had been silent until now.

"Don't be too sure," she spoke, though it was muffled. She was leaning on the table with her arms crossed and half of her face buried in them. The whole meeting she had been sitting like this, silently, staring down at nothing. The Scouts, Darien, and their guardians had noticed her gloomy reverie but said nothing to her. Hearing her speak an hour later came as a bit of a shook to them.

"Why do you say that Serena?" Luna asked.

"What if this is a new enemy?" Serena started, lifting her head up, "What if they don't know about us yet? They'll certainly notice the energy from our teleport and we'll become a target. We'll be fighting all the time again!" she said, getting more impassioned.

They all opened their mouths to speak but shut them when they realized she wasn't finished yet.

"Or maybe it's a trap! Maybe they _do_ know about us and they want us to come to that island so they can kill us! Get us out of the way early so they can destroy everything! I won't let him do that!" she shouted loudly before gasping at her words and covering her mouth.

There was a sharp intake of breath in the room and then absolute silence before someone spoke.

"_Him_?" Rei repeated Serena's word choice.

Serena shot her look downwards as her eyes glazed over with tears. The face she saw in her dream once again resurfaced to the forefront of her mind. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to will it away, but that haunting face wouldn't leave her alone.

"Him," Serena whispered sadly.

Darien leaned forward and laid a hand gently on his lover's shoulder to try and comfort her. Confusion was in his eyes since she had not spoken of her dream yet, but none of the less, he knew she needed him.

"Serena…" he started softly to encourage her to speak.

"I had a dream last night. It looked like I was on the moon on the day the Negaverse came and destroyed everything. I ran outside of the palace to see everything burning. And then this man's face appeared…" she spoke quietly with her gaze averted downwards.

"What did he look like?" Rei asked her anxiously.

Serena's head shot up to look at her raven haired friend, startled by her words and urgency in her voice. Had she seen him too?

"He…he was pale. His hair was this icky yellow-ish white-ish color. And his eyes were bright red."

"Heliodor," Rei stated coldly.

"That's him? That's the face you saw in _your_ dreams?" Serena asked quickly. Rei and Ami had already explained to the group their late night research.

"Yes! That's exactly what he looks like. His eyes are his most prominent part," Rei said the second part in a more hushed voice as she recalled the haunting eyes in her dreams.

"That's for sure…" Serena mumbled, giving a sideways glance.

"He's got to be whose behind all this!" Rei stated as she pounded her fist down on the table.

"I agree. There's no way this is just a coincidence," Artemis said.

"So what do you think? Do we have a new enemy then?" Lita asked.

"Yes," everyone chorused in unison.

"Then that's settled. We'll all be on the lookout for Heliodor from now on," Ami stated.

"Artemis and I will start up talking to Central regularly again and see what we can find out," Luna added.

"And now that school's out, I can really devote some time to researching these attacks and track them," Ami added.

"And the fire and I will be good friends this summer," Rei smirked.

"When this guy starts to show his ugly face in real life, we'll be ready for him!" Lita added while beating her fist into her open palm.

"Yeah!" the Scouts all chorused triumphantly as they stood up around the table, fists in the air. Darien, Artemis, and Luna gave them all a look that brought them out of their energetic state and back down to earth as they reluctantly sat back down.

"So…we ditching the whole teleportation idea?" Darien asked after a moment of silence.

"YES," Serena yelled quickly.

"Gees, Serena. Don't be so eager to abandon that idea," Rei said in annoyance.

"You guys can go ahead, but I refuse to go. Oh, and good luck getting back with barely enough power to get there in the first place," Serena said sarcastically.

"Serena…" everyone groaned at her stubbornness.

"What?" she asked innocently.

* * *

><p>A week past with absolutely no activity. Ami found nothing on her computer, nor could she detect any more forests being drained of energy. Central was in the process of looking into everything Luna and Artemis reported to them. And Rei was still getting hardly anything from her fire readings.<p>

With no action to keep up their determined energy from their meeting, the Scout's minds easily drifted towards their lives as teenaged girls, and what a busy life they were having now. All the girls were preoccupied planning for their graduation parties, Graduation day on Saturday, which was the very next day, and a very special friend's birthday a week after…

"Have you and Mina talked to Andrew yet?" Ami whispered in Lita's ear. They were standing in a large auditorium at the end of their graduation rehearsal. Some superintendent was going on about being so proud of their class and yadda yadda yadda, but Ami and Lita had more important things on their mind.

"Yup. We're go for operation 'Surprise Party,'" Lita whispered back.

"Oh good! You two didn't make a fool of yourselves by flirting with him did you?" Ami asked knowingly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lita replied sarcastically.

"Alright everyone, we'll see you all tomorrow for your graduation day!" the overly cheery woman spoke into the microphone.

Ami and Lita joined the rest of their classmates with cheers and clapping unenthusiastically before turning back to their conversation.

"Okay, so Darien is clued in on his role in this right?" Lita asked Ami as she scanned the room, making sure the birthday girl wasn't close by.

"Yes. Rei and I walked him through the plan. He told us he has something planned for Serena after the party, as well," Ami said.

"Something planned, eh? Did he say what?" Lita turned her eyes on Ami in curiosity.

"He wants her to spend the night at his apartment. He showed us the necklace he bought her. It's very beautiful. He wants to give it to her in private," Ami said matter-of-factly. However, when Lita started laughing, Ami was struck with confusion.

"Oh, I doubt that's _all_ he's planning," Lita exclaimed, giving up on being quiet.

"Okay, who is planning what?"

Lita and Ami jumped when they realized Serena had found them and heard Lita's little comment. They prayed that she hadn't heard anything else.

"Oh…just commenting on Andrew's plans for when Rita gets back from Africa, hehe," Lita replied quickly and nervously, scratching the back of her head to try and seem nonchalant.

"Ooo, Rita's coming back? Geez, two years went by fast!" Serena exclaimed. Lita and Ami let out a breath they had been holding in. Relief. Sweet relief.

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><p><strong>There you have it! I promise I won't take as long to update with the next chapter!<strong>

**Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a comment! **


	8. Author's Note

Okay, this is just an author's note.

It's obviously been a long time since I've updated and I apologize. I wanted to let anyone who was reading this know that after much consideration, I'm ditching this story. My reasoning is not that I don't have time or that I've just lost interest, it's that the story is not working out how I envisioned it. I loved the prelude I wrote but I just wasn't feeling everything after that and my writing style was just not where I wanted it to be.

So I'm scrapping it for a different story I've thought up that has a more solid story line and I've put a lot of thought into it and I'm really in love with the idea. My hope is to create a series that may get back around to the prelude I wrote, I haven't decided that yet.

So I'm gonna start working on that while focusing a lot more on enhancing my writing abilities.

Again, I'm sorry if I disappointed anyone!

Narsenic


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